Car top luggage carrier



Oct. 20, 1964 K. w. BINDING cAR Top LUGGAGE CARRIER Filed July 2, 1962United States Patent 3,153,501 CAR TOP LUGGAGE CARRIER Kenneth W.Binding, Winchester, Mass., assignor to Marhet Forge Company, Everett,Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed .luly 2, 1962, Ser. No.206,576 1 Claim. (Cl. 224-421) This invention relates to car top luggagecarriers and has for its principal objects to provide a carrier which iswaterproof and dust-tight; to provide a carrier which is conformable tothe top of the vehicle to which it is applied in spite of the transverseand longitudinal curvatures or lack of curvature thereof, thereby toeliminate access of rain and dust between the top of the vehicle and thebottom side of the luggage carrier and also the lifting effect of thewind which tends to tear the carrier from the roof and to produce unduestrain on the attaching means; to provide a luggage carrier which may besecurely attached to the vehicle without damage to the car top and yetwhich may be easily released to remove the carrier when not required; toprovide a luggage carrier which is attractive in appearance, of lightweight and of large capacity; and to provideV a luggage carriercomprised of parts which are readily available, easy to manufacture andeasy to assemble.

As herein illustrated, the carrier comprises a flexible envelope havinga bottom, side, end, and top walls, one of the side walls containing anopening, a closure ap connected along one of its edges to one side ofthe opening, interengageable fastening elements on the other edges ofthe flap and along the edge of the opening interengageable to hold theflap closed, a substantially rectangular frame comprised oflongitudinally and transversely flexible metal members, disposed in theenvelope and substantially coextensive with the bottom wall, clampssecured to the frame externally of the envelope operative to secure theframe and envelope flexed to conform to the curvature of the top of thevehicle, a pair of end stretcher frames at the ends of the base framepivotally supported for movement upwardly, relative to the base framewithin the envelope to stretch the ends, sides and top taut above thebottom, a pair of arms pivotally connected to the end frames and to eachother operative, when aligned, to hold the end frames upright and, whendisplaced, to permit the end frames to be folded into engagement withthe base frame, and means on the arms cooperative to lock them inalignment. The envelope is comprised of a tightly woven waterprooffabric. The base frame is comprised of exible metal strips, to theundersides of which are applied cushion strips, and the end and sidemembers of the base frame have upstanding flanges operative to constrainlateral movement of luggage placed within the carrier. Because of theshorter radius of curvature, transversely of the top of the vehicle, theupstanding flanges of the end members of the frame are notched toprovide for flexibility.

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference tothe accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective View of the luggage carrier applied to the topor roof of a vehicle, the latter being shown in dot and dash lines;

FIG. la is a fragmentary section of the envelope with the supportingframe omitted;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the supporting frame of the luggage carrier,with the envelope omitted, showing the erect and partially collapsedpositions of the end frames;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section taken lengthwise of the carrier on the line3--3 of FIG. 2, showing the end frames erect and partially collapsed andthe envelope in dot and dash lines;

. FIG. 3a is a fragmentary section taken on the line Saz- 3a of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an end elevation of the supporting frame showing one of theend frames shown in its erect position with the envelope omitted andshowing the notching of the end member of the base frame to affordflexibility transversely of the vehicle;

FIG. 5 is a section taken on the line 5--5 of FIG. 2, showing the meansfor pivotally securing the end frames to the base frame;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary section taken on the line 6--6 of FIG. 2 showingthe connection between a transverse member of the frame and a sidemember, and a cushion layer applied to the underside of the transversemember;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary section taken on the line 7-7 of FIG. l, showingthe fastening means for the closure flap of the'envelope; and

FIG. 8 is a section through a toggle clamp for securing the carrier tothe vehicle top.

Referring to the drawings (FIG. l), the luggage carrier lil is shownapplied to the top 12 of a vehicle by means vide, when distended, aluggage carrying space of pre-V determined volume. One of the side walls22 (FIGS. 1

'and 7) contains an opening and a closure ap 30 which is connected alongits lower edge to the bottom wall. The free edge 34 of the closure flap30 and the edge 36 of the opening in the wall have attached thereto thecomponent parts of a fastener 32 attached hereto, respectively, by tapes38 and 40. A folded ply 42 is stitched to the marginal edge of theopening in the side wall so as to overlie the junction between the edgeof the opening and the edge of the flap both to exclude water and dustfrom access to the fastener elements and to improve the appearance.

The envelope 16 is held distended for use by a supporting frame 18 (FIG.2), constructed so as to flex both lengthwise and widthwise intoconformity with the curvature of the top of the vehicle. This framecomprises a base frame of substantially rectangular configuration madeup of spaced parallel side members 44 and end members 46 joined at theirextremities. A plurality of spaced parallel, transversely extendingcross-members 48 are joined at their ends to the side members 44 toprovide support for luggage placed within the carrier. The side and endmembers have upstanding flanges 50 and 52 which limit lateral movement.of the luggage resting within the carrier on the base frame. To affordthe flexibility necessary transversely of the vehicle top which has amuch greater radius of curvature than lengthwise, the anges 52 of ltheend members are notched at 54 (FIG. 4). Cushion strips 56 (FIG. 6) areapplied to the underside of the transverse members 4S to keep the metalof the members out of contact with the subjacent fabric ofthe bottomwall of the envelope.

The base frame is placed within the envelope and is coextensive with thebottom wall 20. A pair of end stretcher frames 58, substantiallyyU-shaped in form, having legs 60, are pivotally secured to the oppositeends of the base frame for movement upwardly, relative to the baseframe, to stretch the side, end and top walls taut with respect to thebottom wall. For pivotal movement the lower ends of the legs 60 areprovided with laterally extending feet 62 adapted to be rotatablysecured to the base frame by bracxets 64 (FIG. 5). In order* to raiseand hold the end stretcher frames 58 in their erect positions as shownin FIG. 3, kthereby to hold the envelope tauta pair of scissor arms 66are pivotally connected by brackets 68 (FIG. 3a) to the end trames S8midway between the legs 60 and to each other by a pivot bolt 70. Thearms are of ysuch length that,"when placed in alignment as shown inFIGS. 2 and 3, the end frames are held erect and the envelope taut. Bydisplacement of the arms laterally as shown in FIG. 2, the stretcherframes are allowed to be folded inwardly and downwardly toward the baseframe and hence to collapse the envelope. Each of the arms-66 has anotch 72 at its distal end engageable with a pin 74 on the other arm tohold the arms in alignment. To assist in maintaining the notches engagedwith the pin the pivot` bolt 70 is provided with a wing nut 76 by meansof which it may be tightened.

Anchor elements '78 arefastened to the ends of the side members 44 byrivets 80 (FIG. 8) or the like. The anchor elements are fastened to theframe externally of the envelope, that is, so that the bottom Wall ofthe envelope is situated between the anchor Velements and the base frameand is secured to the base frame by the rivets 80. A cushion strip 82 isfastened to the underside of each anchor element to prevent damage tothe top of the car where the carrier bears upon the top. The distal endsof the anchor elements 78 are provided with hooks 34 for engagement withone of a plurality of notches S6 in a plate S8 curved to conform to theshoulder of Vthe roof and provided with toggle levers 90 for engagementwith the gutters along the sides of the roof.

Thecarrier, as thus constructed, is of very light weight and largecapacity and yet is durable and will withstand the extreme windpressures encountered at high speed.

As herein illustrated, the top of the envelope is slightly smaller inarea than the bottom, the sides and ends are trapezoidal and thetransverse portions of the end frames are upwardly bowed so as toprovide a pitch from the longitudinal center line kof the top wall ofthe envelope toward the sides. The shape of the envelope, however, maybe changed by making it rectangular in section throughout or by makingit arched in section. The end frames will, of course, be designed tocorrespond to the section of theenvelope.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purposeof illustration only and that this invention includes all modificationsand equivalents which fall within the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A truncated trapezoidal vehicle top luggage carrier comprising thecombination of a flexible Waterproof envelope having a bottom, sides,end and top walls, one of said side walls having a zipper openingtherein, a rectangular base frame disposed in the envelope against thebottom wall, said base frame being coextensive with the bottom wall andsaid base frame and bottom wall being conformable to thetop of thevehicle, clamping elements secured to the underside ofthe base frameexternally of the envelope for clamping the base frame to the top of thevehicle with the bottom wall of the envelope situated between it and thevehicle top, and a collapsible composite canopy frame on the base framefor holding the ends, sides yand top of the envelope dstended,comprising end frames pivotally supported transversely of the base frameat opposite ends, said end frames having parts coextensive with theopposite ends of the end Wall at their junction with the side walls andwith the upper edges of the end walls at their junctions with the endsof the top wall, and a ridge piece having parts pivotally connected tothe end frames and to each other lengthwise of the base frame midwaybetween its opposite sides, said end frames, when erected, affordingsupport for the end walls and said parts of the ridge piece, whenaligned, affording the sole support for the top Wall and side wallsintermediate said end frames, said pivoted parts of the ridge pieceproviding means for forcing the end frames into their upright positionsto stretch the walls of the envelope on the composite frame sufficientlyso that the side walls are Sustained taut Without supporting structurelengthwise of the upper edges of the side walls, and means operative tolock the pivoted ridge piece parts in alignment.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS FranceJune 11, 1957

